Boomers, It's Time To Reassess Our Legacy

Boomers, It's Time To Reassess Our Legacy
American future First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929 - 1994) and her husband, Senator (and future US President) John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), arrive home after he had accepted the Democratic Party nomination for President. Massachusetts, July 1960. (Photo by Paul Schutzer/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
American future First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929 - 1994) and her husband, Senator (and future US President) John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), arrive home after he had accepted the Democratic Party nomination for President. Massachusetts, July 1960. (Photo by Paul Schutzer/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

The new year is but a few days old, and already, before it has had time to grow whiskers and wrinkles, 2014 can claim its very own historic milestone: The youngest baby boomers have begun turning 50.

Along with that big five-oh, come discounts -- yay! -- and something more, too. Namely, blame. Baby boomers are blamed for practically everything these days.

At 78 million strong, boomers, those of us born between 1946 and 1964, are one of the largest generations in U.S. history. We're often clumped together, but truth is we are as different as any group born during an 18-year period. The older boomers protested the Vietnam War, mourned two Kennedys and a civil rights hero. The younger siblings don't remember where they were when JFK died -- if they were even born -- but neither do they recall life without The Pill and the sexual freedom that accompanied its introduction to the masses.

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